Why You Might Need to Rethink How You Interact With Google+

If you’re looking for an active and engaging social media experience, you might want to reconsider how much time and effort you’re putting into Google+.

According to research from RJ Metrics, the average post on Google+ has less than one reply, reshare, and +1, which is way below activity on Facebook and Twitter.

The company looked at the public comments of 40,000 Google+ members and found that 30 percent of individuals who make a public post once never do so again, and the average time between posts is 12 days for active users.

Engagement is significantly lagging behind that of competitors. The Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 52 percent of Facebook users and 33 percent of Twitter users interact with the platform daily.

Google — which boasts 180 million Google+ users — argues that the research is flawed stating, “By only tracking engagement on public posts, this study is flawed and not an accurate representation of all the sharing and activity taking place on Google+.”

It’s possible that a majority of activity is taking place privately with specific Circles, but this isn’t the first time the platform has been called a ghost town. In January, comScore found that individuals spent 7.5 hours on Facebook, whereas the average Google+ user spent only 3.3 minutes on the site. Even MySpace — which hasn’t been a major player since the early 2000′s — has beaten Google+ with its users averaging eight minutes per month.

If you’re currently using Google+ to interact with your community and you’re happy, don’t change a thing. But if you find yourself going weeks without interaction, it might be time to invest your energy elsewhere.

Jennifer Beese: Jennifer Beese has worked as a community manager and social media strategist. When she’s not writing, you can find her studying anatomy and physiology—she literally has a skeleton in her closet—or under the stars with her telescope.